I notice I'm getting a lot of answers to the questions I posed in my starter. Which is great - but I hope everyone realizes that there is no set agenda: please do raise any discussion topic relevant to this chapter; don't restrict yourself to answering the initial questions !

I think CuriousG has nailed why Melkor ends up single! Quite agree, he's not about to share his obsidian bunker with any equal.(Don't know whether he really has an obsidian bunker, but it's so nice to say "obsidian bunker", especially out loud, that I'm going to imagine one until proved otherwise).

I thought it was interesting that Gwenhwyfar was speculating on what fate was lined up for Melkor if he had not turned evil.: Did Eru have a plan for Melkor (and the others)? Did he plan all along that Melkor would turn out evil because a bit of evil is cosmically necessary in some way? Or did he not have any particular plan, and the Valar end up as gods of this or that according to their own talents an inclinations? I guess that brings up the very big issue of fate/divine plan versus free will in the Tolkien Universe. Perhaps someone would like to start a separate thread tackling the subject more generally ("Bilbo was meant to find the Ring" etc.) It probably can't be settled, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be fun to discuss.

Made up Language: Gwenhwyfar says "I was particularly irked by Christopher Paolini's YA Eragon series." Me too - not only the fantasy-by-numbers map and place names, but also because it seemed like too obvious a Tolkien/Star Wars mash-up to me (Princess carrying valuable item is perused by evil forces. Princess is captured but spirits item away. Item found by farm boy with dreams. Farm boy finds someone who can explain just enough about the item, and proposes quest. Meanwhile evil forces looking for item trash Farm Boy's house and kill his Uncle, thereby removing any remaining motivation to stay home rather than set out on quest... Remind you of anything?) Nothing wrong with making your own flavour of fantasy soup (to borrow an analogy of Tolkien's) but, personally speaking, it doesn't end well for me if my first reading of a book is overshadowed by thinking "Author, I see what you are doing there!" I tend quickly to conclude "these are not the stories you're looking for."

Gwenhwyfar, your idea of "the Valaquenta as a reference book for little beginner-level elf students" caused me to realise there is a difference between the Sil and some other works.I was thinking that in other works Tolkien has the conceit that there is a real Middle-earth book on which he's based his story. If I recall, the Hobbit is supposed to be based on Bilbo's writings, whereas the Lord of the Rings is taken from further accounts written by Hobbits. Similarly, Tale of Aragorn and Arwen is supposed to have been written by Faramir's grandson Barahir. We don't get any similar in-world view for the Sil, so are left to imagine who the Middle-earth Mallory (or Christopher Tolkien) might be, collecting these old tales up, trying to decide what is canonical, and putting it all in order. . Had the book been published in JRRT's lifetime, I wonder whether he would have added a bit of meta-story like this? As an alternative to putting the Sil in Elrond's library, as an elf manual, it could also be part of a fourth-age literary flowering in Gondor: having an elvish Queen and a King descended from Isuldur might create a lot of interest in the old tales... It's probably what is known on this forum as an Utterly Untestable Theory (or UUT).

I like Beren-boy's List of Kings idea. Yes, that is very much what this is.

Lastly, I just saw The Gardener's point about Varda/Elbereth perhaps being inspired by some elements of the Catholic view of Virgin Mary - it would be interesting if you would elaborate!